“Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates” is directed by Jake Szymanski, and written by Andrew Jay Cohen and Brendan O’Brien. It stars Zac Efron, Adam Devine, Anna Kendrick, Aubrey Plaza, Stephen Root, Stephanie Faracy, Sugar Lyn Beard, Sam Richardson, and Alice Wetterlund.
Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates tells the (highly fictionalized) true story of two men who find women on Craigslist to take to their sister’s wedding. The trailers made this look pretty dopey (and the real life dudes seem kind of skeezy, but here we have a script by Andrew Jay Cohen and Brendan O’Brien, two of the writers behind the hilarious and progressive Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, as well as Zac Efron, from the same film. And while it doesn’t reach the heights of that film, Mike and Dave mostly works.
It begins with Mike and Dave being told by their parents that they need to bring dates to their sister’s wedding, as in the past they’ve attended family gatherings stag and made things too crazy. They “rile each other up” apparently. The thinking here is that if they have dates they’ll be forced to behave themselves. This logic seems a bit sketchy and is a pretty transparent excuse to justify the film’s premise, but in the grand scheme of things that’s no big deal. They decide to post an ad on Craigslist, where Alice and Tatiana, two down-on-their-luck roommates, discover it. They decide to clean up their act and meet these boys for the free trip to Hawaii.
Our four leads are all strong, playing off of each other in interesting and entertaining ways. Adam Devine (Mike) is the standout. The guy just exudes charisma and has comic chops that call to mind Will Ferrell. He steals every scene he’s in and I look forward to whatever he’s in next. Zac Efron plays the straight man here, and he plays it well. After giving such an excellent comic performance in Neighbors 2, it’s a bit of a comedown, but he serves his function in the film. He and Devine have a nice dynamic and the two come off as intensely likable together.
Aubrey Plaza is playing within her comfort zone as the sarcastic, cunning Tatiana. She’s playing exactly the type of role she exceeds at (she basically feels like an older, pot-smoking April Ludgate). Her singular vocal delivery is utilized perfectly. Anna Kendrick’s Alice is the sweeter, heart-broken surrogate little sister. Kendrick effortlessly brings a kindness and innocence to Alice that distinguishes her from Tatiana and adds a nice balance to the film.
And while the story itself is nothing spectacular (basically everything unfolds as you expect it to at the outset), the more serious character stuff at the end mostly works. It’s a story about growing up and become more self-aware in a way that actually feels pretty sincere.
The film isn’t perfect of course. There are some annoying shots that leer at the bodies of our female leads that feel studio-mandated, and there is one particular comic set-piece that didn’t really work for me (the massage scene), but the film brings enough laughs to be worth checking out, as well as plenty of cameos for the comedy fans out there.
I enjoyed this a lot more than I was expecting to, and would recommend it.
-Anthony Joseph Calamunci
